Ed. Note: SeventyK’s mission is to change cancer care by educating patients,
families, and their healthcare providers through innovative ways about
age-appropriate treatment and the unique needs of the adolescent and young
adult (AYA) cancer patient. Unlike pediatric and older adult cancer
patients, for over two decades the rate of survival for AYA cancer patients has
not improved.

As Acting Secretary
Blank spoke to the new opportunities and growth that will spur from opening new
USPTO offices, two quotes came to mind:

#1: "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness
that created it" (Albert Einstein).

For the first
time, new offices outside of Washington, D.C. will be part of the solution to
accelerate innovation in this country—an important recognition that innovation
doesn’t happen in one place—it happens across the country. Now entrepreneurs
who need to protect their innovation have a direct line to the government
locally. A strong move when seeing that IP-intensive industries account
for nearly 35 percent of the FY2010 U.S. GDP.

Acting Secretary Rebecca Blank delivered remarks at the Global
Women’s Innovation Network (GlobalWIN)’s third annual Innovation Luncheon at
the Library of Congress today. GlobalWIN provides a forum for women executives
and women working in academia, government and business in innovation-related
fields. In her remarks, Dr. Blank highlighted the importance of women’s
leadership in advancing America’s innovation agenda to compete and create jobs.

Blank emphasized that to be competitive in the 21st century, America needs to encourage students to enter science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. These fields produce many of
the inventors and leaders who bring new ideas from the lab to the marketplace.
Even though STEM jobs pay about 25 percent more than others, only about 13
percent of U.S. college graduates got degrees in the STEM fields. Blank
affirmed that one reason America has so few STEM workers is because women are
seriously underrepresented in these fields. Women make up nearly half of
America’s labor force—but less than one-fourth of our STEM workforce. Some
women lack information, others lack role models or mentors, while others may lack
opportunity.

To provide opportunities, the Obama administration launched Educate to Innovate in
2009. This campaign brings together the federal government with private-sector
partners with a particular focus on inspiring more girls, women and minorities
to explore science and technology. Another example is Race to the Top, made
possible by the Recovery Act. With about $4 billion in funding, Race to
the Top provides competitive grants that support and reward states with high
K-through-12 achievement with the only extra preference allowed in this
competition is for states that focus on STEM. A third example of the president’s commitment came this week when
he dedicated $100 million for a new corps of high-quality STEM teachers at 50
sites around the U.S. These teachers will get up to $20,000 on top
of their base salary in exchange for making a multi-year commitment.

Blank reminded the audience that in the long run, America’s
ability to innovate and compete as a nation will determine what kind of
economy—and what kind of country—we pass along to the next generation.

The commencement speech provided an opportunity to give advice to the graduate students and to encourage them to use their expertise and experience to find solutions to the pressing problems facing our world. UMBC is particularly well-known for its scientific training. Science, technology, engineering and math–STEM fields–are particularly important, and it is STEM-related research that will drive innovation in the years ahead. In fact, STEM jobs have grown three times faster than other jobs, indicating the need for more workers with these skills.

This morning, Deputy Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank delivered the keynote address at “Manufacturing, Innovation, and Workforce Training: What Works In Germany and The United States For Jobs and Growth,” a conference co-sponsored by the Aspen Institute, the German Center for Research and Innovation, the German Embassy, and the Representative of German Industry and Trade. Her remarks come the week before Commerce Secretary John Bryson travels to Dusseldorf and Berlin to meet with government and business leaders.

Deputy Secretary Blank noted how both America and Germany have shown strength in areas such as manufacturing and exporting. She emphasized the importance of maintaining economic growth by strengthening the U.S.-German economic relationship.

There is a powerful link between America’s ability to make things and America’s ability to innovate, compete, and create good jobs, as Secretary John Bryson said today when he spoke to CEOs, students and faculty at “The Future of Manufacturing in the U.S.” conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Secretary took the opportunity to discuss the importance of manufacturing in boosting U.S. economic growth, job creation and exports, as part of the administration's ongoing efforts to encourage companies to build things in America and sell everywhere around the globe.

Bryson also released a new U.S. Commerce Department Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) report titled “The Benefits of Manufacturing Jobs,” an analysis of wages and benefits of manufacturing workers, which provides fresh evidence that manufacturing jobs encourage innovation and support economic security for America’s middle class. The report finds that total hourly compensation for manufacturing workers is 17 percent higher than for non-manufacturing workers. It also shows that manufacturing jobs are becoming more skilled and heavily reliant on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, and that manufacturing is responsible for 70 percent of our private sector R&D, 90 percent of our patents, and 60 percent of our exports.

After a decade in which the United States lost many manufacturing jobs, American manufacturers have added back 489,000 jobs since January 2010—the best streak since 1995. In the first four months of 2012 alone, the U.S. manufacturing sector added 139,000 jobs. At the same time, the number of job openings in manufacturing has more than doubled.

Today,
Secretary John Bryson traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to tour facilities at
Minneapolis Community Technical College (MCTC), along with Mayor R.T. Rybak and
U.S. Representative Keith Ellison. After the tour, Bryson held a discussion
with business leaders, students and educators—including Steven Rosenstone,
Chancellor of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, MCTC Graduate Mike Palm and Kimberly Arrigoni, President-Elect of Minnesota Precision Manufacturing Association—on how the Obama
Administration can continue to support successful partnerships between
community colleges and businesses to train and place skilled workers.

The
rigorous education and hands on technical training offered at MCTC and other
workforce training campuses has made a difference in the lives of people across
the country. As President Obama said during his State of the Union Address a
few weeks ago, having a strong workforce is a critical part of ensuring that
our economy is built to last.

Bryson noted that over
the past two years, we’ve added over 3.7 million new jobs, including 404,000
manufacturing jobs. But there is still work to be done. That’s why the
President has called for more programs and partnerships like the ones at MCTC.
We need to support more colleges that teach people the skills that businesses
need, and investing in the next generation of skilled workers is a smart
investment that will pay off.

President Obama recently laid out plans in his State of the Union address to foster an economy that’s built to last by ensuring that America has the highly skilled workers necessary for 21st century jobs. Yesterday, Acting Deputy Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank traveled to Madison, Wisconsin, where she visited the Madison Area Technical College, a training ground for students that leads directly to skilled manufacturing jobs nationwide. Blank met with students and sat in on a training class focused on hybrid vehicle technology. Blank also delivered remarks on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce training and met with business and university leaders. Commerce’s Economic Development Administration recently teamed up with Madison College to provide mobile technical training opportunities both on-campus and throughout the region. The training focused on advanced manufacturing and automotive technology.

As NOAA’s
Teacher at Sea Program (TAS) prepares for its 2012 season, the lessons and materials
created by its participants from the 2011 season are making it into the hands
of their eager students around the U.S. In 2011, 34 teachers representing
21 states, participated in NOAA research cruises, involving science,
technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts that can be integrated into
their daily lessons. One of the goals of the TAS program is that teachers understand
and use NOAA data in their classrooms. Teachers also obtain and translate this STEM
knowledge for their students and the public in their blogs.

Another goal of the TAS program is for teachers to learn how
different STEM occupations support NOAA’s mission and to then convey this
information to their students. Each teacher is required to meet with, and
sometimes interview, multiple crewmembers during the research cruise. Often times, these interviews
are featured in their blogs, but sometimes, teachers have the students create a
product that explains the different jobs.

In his State
of the Union address, President Obama laid out an ambitious goal to train 2
million workers with the necessary skills to land a job. What are those skills in a 21st
century economy? As we have written previously
in this blog, the fields of science,
technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) play a critical role in America’s
global economic leadership and are vital to securing the highest quality jobs
of the future, to decreasing the gender wage gap, and to ensuring America
retains global economic leadership through innovation and technology.

STEM & Employment

In 2010, 7.6
million people or 1 in 18 workers held STEM jobs. (Watch
this space for an update as 2011 data become available.) Although STEM employment makes up a small
fraction of total employment, STEM employment grew rapidly from 2000 to 2010,
increasing 7.9 percent while employment in non-STEM jobs grew just 2.6 percent
over this period. (See Figure 1.) The Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that STEM jobs will continue growing at a
fast clip relative to other occupations: 17.0 percent between 2008-2018 (BLS’
most recent projection), compared to just 9.8 percent for non-STEM jobs.

STEM & Education

One of the
more striking characteristics of STEM workers is their educational
attainment. More than two-thirds (68
percent) have a college degree or more, compared to just under one-third (31
percent) of other workers age 16 and over.
Nearly one quarter (23 percent) have completed an associate’s degree or
at least some college. Just 9 percent
have a high school diploma or less. Thus
the majority of STEM workers tend to be college educated, but opportunities also
exist for STEM workers with fewer years of study.